Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/47

42 forms, which does not seek to destroy individual responsibility by absorbing it into the great ALL, but on the contrary evinces a very decided monotheistic tendency. Apollonius seems inclined to believe that the various gods who are worshipped by the people are symbols or different representations of one and the same deity. This is the reason why he visits all the temples without distinction, and endeavors to purify the forms of worship adopted in them from every element of licentiousness which the superstition of the vulgar might have mixed up with them. Venus herself must become the goddess of pure love, free from all carnal lust. Thus will the moral sense become the means of discerning religious truth, and of rectifying with authority the most prevalent traditions. Accordingly, we frequently find that Apollonius subjects the traditional creeds and mythologies to the most fearless criticism. Like Plato, he blames the poets for having lowered the character of the gods by their fabulous descriptions. It seems absurd to him that Minos, cruel tyrant as he was, should